Friday, February 28, 2003
Border agent is slain in Sonora
Aaron J. Latham / Staff
Widow's grief: Rocio Silva Romero Salomon, who was married to the slain agent, is consoled by supporters at his funeral.
One in custody, three sought in beating death
By Ignacio Ibarra and Carmen DuarteARIZONA DAILY STAR
STARNET EXCLUSIVEJorge Luis Salomon See a series of powerful images from the funeral of 23-year-old U.S. Border Patrol agent Jorge Luis Salmon in Naco, Sonora Thursday, Feb. 27, attended by nearly 500. |
NACO, Sonora - An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent was beaten to death south of Cananea, Sonora, this week after three Mexican men he befriended and drank with learned he was a federal agent.
Mexican officials say one man is in custody and three others are being sought in the killing of Jorge Luis Salomon. The 23-year-old agent's body was discovered Wednesday near Bacoachi, a small town about 40 miles south of the border, his head smashed repeatedly with heavy rocks.
Francisco Javier Rosas Molina, 18, was in the custody of Mexican authorities who continue their search for three others, who like Molina are from the Cananea area. They are: Jose Arturo Arreola Lopez, 20, Jesus Cesar Abusto Villa Villareal and Edna Yardis Montoya Medina.
Mexican officials Thursday notified U.S. officials to be on the lookout for the trio because they suspect they might try to flee north across the border.
The Sonora state prosecutor in Cananea, Saul Ballesteros, said Salomon had apparently met Rosas Molina earlier this week near the border at Naco, shortly after Rosas Molina's release from jail in Bisbee on drug trafficking charges. Records of his custody could not be immediately confirmed at the jail.
"He struck up a conversation and began a friendly relationship, giving him a ride and spending several hours drinking and talking with him and some of his companions," Ballesteros said.
Salomon had initially confided in Rosas Molina that he was an agent, but later, when the conversation with the young man's companions turned to their involvement in drug and people trafficking, Salomon told the group he was a construction worker.
"That's when Rosas Molina identified him to the others as a Border Patrol agent, and that appears to be the reason that they killed him," said Ballesteros.
Salomon was beaten and his head bashed repeatedly with rocks. His Ford pickup was stolen, along with other belongings, including a gold chain and medallion, said the prosecutor.
A passer-by discovered the body early Wednesday and notified Mexican police. Later, police received a tip about the slaying and robbery of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. That caller led police to Rosas Molina, who had the agent's truck and medallion, said Ballesteros, adding that Rosas Molina has admitted involvement in the slaying.
Ballesteros said there is "no evidence to suggest the agent, Jorge Luis Salomon, was involved in drug trafficking or people trafficking."
Border Patrol spokesman Rob Daniels said Salomon joined the Border Patrol in late 2000 and was stationed in Naco, Ariz.
"The Border Patrol is like a really big, close family. Whenever something like this affects one of our people, it affects the entire agency. It doesn't make any difference whether you worked with, knew or didn't know the agent. You're still affected."
Salomon was buried Thursday in Naco, Sonora, where his mother and father reside.
Jorge Luis Salomon Sr. said his eldest son had always dreamed of being a law enforcement officer and worked hard to become an agent.
"I wasn't happy about it, but it's what he wanted," the father said as he followed the hearse carrying his U.S.-born son's body to San Jose Catholic Church, about two blocks from his home. "I have always been very proud of my son, of all of my sons."
Townspeople and officials from both sides of this border town of about 10,000 stood solemnly outside the crowded church during the funeral Mass while armed state police stood nearby.
"We are here in support of a fellow law enforcement agent," said Naco State Police Commander Ramon Valles.
"We are also here to try and control the recent breakout of violence in northern Sonora," Valles said, referring to the killing of drug trafficker Cesar Jaime Castro Medina, alias "El Jaimillo." Castro Medina was kidnapped last week from his Nogales, Sonora, home by 10 men armed with assault rifles and dressed in black. His body was found later, riddled with bullets.
Valles also noted the recent execution-style killing of a taco vendor in Hermosillo.
"Those cases and this case are different. It looks like this one was a robbery," he said.
"However, people who are committing the violence in northern Sonora are not from here. They are people who are traveling through here. Sonora is a trampoline for drugs into the United States."
He said up to 400 Mexican law enforcement agents have recently converged in the northern part of the state to try to keep it calm. Checkpoints and patrols are being conducted by the Mexican army and state, federal and county police, Valles said.
State police looked on Thursday as the silver casket - decorated with depictions of Mary holding Jesus in her arms after his crucifixion - was carried out of the church. It was placed in a blue hearse, adorned with red roses and white carnations spread across its hood as it traveled slowly over paved and dirt streets to the town cemetery.
Wailing women, including Jorge Salomon's widow, Rocio, were comforted by men as about 100 mourners walked behind the hearse.
"My daughter is so distraught. She's inconsolable," said Alberto Silva Nóperi, the agent's father-in-law.
Musicians also were in the procession, some playing as they walked with mourners, others playing from the bed of a pickup truck.
Some families watched the procession from their front doors.
"I came to support the family," said Ester Laguna, 57, who walked behind the hearse. "This is my 10th funeral in about four months. There is so much death because of violence and social ills. People have to give of themselves to better this community," Laguna said.
"Meanwhile, who knows what tomorrow may bring," she said. "It could bring another death."
About 500 were at the cemetery where the casket was opened for a final goodbye.